The 12th regular-season editions of the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches’ Poll were released on Monday with the Arizona Wildcats staying put as the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Arizona received 61-of-65 first-place votes from the AP voters and 31-of-32 first-place votes from the coaches.

The Florida Gators (17-2, 6-0 SEC) – fresh off a 68-62 win at Alabama on Thursday and a 67-41 demolition of Tennessee at home on Saturday – jumped up three spots to No. 3 in the AP top 25 and moved up two places to No. 4 in the USA Today rankings.

Florida checked in with 1,436 points (+133) in the AP poll and 694 points (+55) in the USA Today top 25. The Gators at No. 3 achieved their highest ranking since Feb. 4, 2013 (No. 2).

[table “25” not found /]

Check out the complete top 25 rankings and see where UF stands…after the break!

As good as we are, having a 6’10” skywalker with fresh legs and elite athleticism running the court and patrolling the baseline adds a wwwhhhoooollleee different dimension to our team. Don’t want to oversell or put too much pressure on the kid. . .but a Gator can dream, can’t he?

You’re also going to see Walker have a nice effect on PY and Yeguete given his ability to step away from the paint and hit shots out to 15-18 feet. With 2 pure post guys right now, opponents can pack the paint defensively. Having a guy who can step out and hit a shot is going to leave a lot of single-coverage opportunities for Pat, which could see his production improve big time.

Can you imagine if Damontre Harris would have been able to play as originally planned? Wow. A team like that would have been built to go deep into the tourney. . . . . not saying that our Gators can’t still do that now.

It is really good for him to be able to go against Patric in practice, as I have heard he has been mostly dominated and has to be learning tons to really step in at this level, but he has got to get some major time on court against game competition and game legs to truly excel and be a factor, I think. It is tragic what the NCAA is diong to him, and I am beginning to doubt even sometime this month as only 1 more game left. If he doesn’t get to play this year would be great to see him come back to play for a year next year to get some legs at this level and improve draft stock, but I sure wouldn’t blame him if he just said screw this and moved on.

ABOUT US

OnlyGators.com (a/k/a ONLY GATORS Get Out Alive, Only Gators, OGGOA, OG) is an independent website owned by Only Gators, LLC. It is not affiliated in any way with the University of Florida, University Athletic Association or Florida Gators.